BACKGROUND Most economic evaluation models compare a new patented drug (NPRx) to a generic comparator. Drug costs within these models are usually limited to the retail cost of both drugs at the time of model conception. However, the retail cost of the NPRx is expected to drop once generic versions of this molecule are introduced following the expiration of the NPRx's patent. The objective of th...

BACKGROUND The aim of this research was to evaluate the economic outcomes of radiotherapy (RT), temozolomide (TMZ) and nitrosourea (NT) strategies for glioblastoma patients with different prognostic factors. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A Markov model was developed to track monthly patient transitions. Transition probabilities and utilities were derived primarily from published reports. Cos...

Modern scientific datasets present numerous data management and analysis challenges. State-of-the-art index and query technologies such as FastBit are critical for facilitating interactive exploration of large datasets. These technologies rely on adding auxiliary information to existing datasets to accelerate query processing. To use these indices, we need to match the relational data model use...

Storytelling animation has a great potential to be widely adopted by domain scientists for exploring trends in scientific simulations. However, due to the dynamic nature and generation methods of animations, serious concerns have been raised regarding their effectiveness for analytical tasks. This has led to interactive techniques often being favored over animations, as they provide the user wi...

Firearm-related injuries are a substantial public health problem. A wide array of policies designed to prevent these injuries have been discussed, but few are enacted into legislation. Even fewer have undergone scientific evaluation for their effectiveness. We offer a nosology for categorizing existing and future gun policies. A brief review of the effectiveness of existing gun policies is pres...

the aim of this paper is to develop a prediction model of energy demand of iran’s industrial sector. for that matter a markov chain grey model (mcgm) has been proposed to forecast such energy demand. to find the effectiveness of the proposed model, it is then compared with grey model (gm) and regression model. the comparison reveals that the mcgm model has higher precision than those of the gm ...

SETTING Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is a middle-income setting with an estimated 1% adult human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seroprevalence. OBJECTIVE To examine the cost-effectiveness of DOTS in Rio de Janeiro. DESIGN Cost-effectiveness analysis based on cost data and an epidemiological model based on programmatic outcomes from the Health Department in Rio de Janeiro, cost data from the retail...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of a class-based exercise program supplementing a home-based program when compared with a home-based program alone. In addition, we estimated the probability that the supplementary class program is cost-effective over a range of values of a decision maker's willingness to pay for an additional quality-adjusted life-year (QALY...

BACKGROUND Increased scarcity of public resources has led to a concomitant drive to account for value-for-money of interventions. Traditionally, cost-effectiveness, cost-utility and cost-benefit analyses have been used to assess value-for-money of public health interventions. The social return on investment (SROI) methodology has capacity to measure broader socio-economic outcomes, analysing an...

The onset of bathing disability among older people is critical for a decline in functioning and has implications for both the individuals' quality of life and societal costs. The aim of this study was to evaluate long-term cost effectiveness of an intervention targeting bathing disability among older people. For hypothetical cohorts of community-dwelling older people with bathing disability, tr...